Various covering assemblies for seats have been proposed heretofore for cooling and/or massaging the user of the seat, such as the driver of an automobile. In this regard, one known arrangement uses an array of beads which are intended to extend over the normal seating area. F. Karver U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,523 and my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,324 both show seat covering arrangements which blow air under pressure onto the driver. Further, H. H. Trotman et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,313,640 and 4,435,015 both show arrays of studs which protrude from rear sheet members, but where the assembly is sealed around its outer edges.
However, all of these arrangements suffer from serious drawbacks. For example, in the bead arrangements, little ventilation occurs. The forced air systems, while they appear to have potential for achieving the desired ventilation and cooling, are expensive and elaborate to implement. Finally, the Trotman systems with the raised studs appear promising, but the sealed peripheries of the units prevents the flow of ventilation air from the ambient to the user's seating areas, including to the back and underneath the user.